Postgame Breakdown: B's falter late, Sabres win in shootout

Drew Stafford, who has struggled to find the net all season, buried
the game-winner in the shootout. (Getty Images)

I'm sure I need not inform you that Wednesday's game between
the Bruins and Sabres was an unbelievably emotional evening at TD
Garden. I'll have more on that aspect of the night in a separate
entry. Here, we'll stick to hockey.

Final: Buffalo 3, Boston 2 (SO)

Recap: With 5:45 gone in the first period,
former Sabre Dan Paille put his old team in an early hole,
finishing off a nice feed from Chris Kelly to make it 1-0 Boston.
Late in the opening frame, Zdeno Chara was assessed an incredibly
weak interference call, which came on a hit against the
puck-carrier, Mark Pysyk. Buffalo capitalized, as Thomas Vanek
redirected a shot from the point by Christian Ehrhoff past Anton
Khudobin to knot things up.

In the second, Paille and Kelly reversed roles from their goal
earlier in the night, with the former now setting up the latter.
Kelly's momentum was taking him towards the end boards, but he got
a second whack at a loose puck and poked it past Ryan Miller to
give the Black and Gold the lead back.

With 48 seconds left in regulation, Andrew Ference got slapped
with the much-maligned, puck-over-the-glass penalty, putting Boston
shorthanded as they attempted to cling to their one-goal lead.
Vanek sent a high-speed pass to the top of the slot, with Cody
Hodgson and Tyler Ennis in front. Hodgson got a hold of it and put
it past Khudobin tie things up with 26 ticks to go.

After a scoreless overtime, Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron and
Brad Marchand were denied in the shootout. The sixth shooter, Drew
Stafford, scored the game-winner to give Buffalo the extra
point.

Records: Buffalo 19-19-6, 44 points; Boston
26-11-5, 57 points

Key Play of the Game: The Bruins had plenty of
chances in the second half of the contest to build on their lead,
but they failed to capitalize on a number of quality opportunities.
Some of that was their own doing, but the Sabres also made some
nice plays. One standout moment was a shorthanded 2-on-1 in the
third in which Ehrhoff cut off Bergeron's passing lane to Marchand
then swept his stick across to disrupt No. 37's effort to carry the
puck in further toward Miller.

Connolly's Commendations: Ryan Miller was
sharper than a katana tonight. The Sabres' netminder, who -- much
like Buffalo as a whole -- is in the midst of another trying
season, stopped 41-of-43 in 65 minutes of action.

Kelly and Paille were pretty phenomenal together tonight. They
had a goal and an assist each, combined for seven shots and were
both plus-2. On top of that, Kelly won 12-of-18 faceoffs.

Boy, did Bergeron and Marchand show no signs of rust. The two
were back in the lineup and teamed up with their usual linemate,
Seguin. The trio combined for a whopping 14 shots on goal,
generating a number of high-quality scoring chances. Bergeron won
13-of-17 faceoffs.

Connolly's Critiques: Nathan Horton skated on
the right side with Paille and Kelly, and his plus-2 looks
impressive on paper. But No. 18 had two harmless shots on goal,
struggled repeatedly to get shots off and was prone to some sloppy
over-passing. He also lucked out late in the game while forced to
cover up on 'D' during a Sabres' 3-on-2. Horton lost his balance
while skating backward, but luckily Buffalo didn't cash in.

Horton's evening wasn't nearly as frustrating as Milan Lucic's.
The struggling winger put zero pucks on goal, had a really bad
high-sticking penalty in the third period that put his team
shorthanded for four minutes and was courteously not credited with
any turnovers, though the eye test indicated he should've been on
at least a few occasions. Lucic finished the night with under 11
minutes of ice time.

Notes: With the "loser" point, the Bruins
clinched a playoff spot. They also moved up into a tie atop the
Northeast Division, as both the Black and Gold and the Habs have 57
points. Boston currently owns the tiebreaker.

Final Thoughts: Stafford's winning goal was a
kick in the pants, given that he has had a ton of trouble scoring
this year and came into the night with no points in the last nine
games. The Bruins played well enough to win, but with Miller on his
'A' game, they needed to be just a little bit better. Some unlucky
penalties, and their inability to kill them off, ultimately did
them in.